The Hidden Spirituality of Men: Ten Metaphors to Awaken the Sacred Masculine

It's a bountiful universe in here. I'd been thinking about traditional Jungian archetypes and how - and if - they fit in with the concept of the New Masculine, and suddenly, Matthew Fox's book, "The Hidden Spirituality of Men," shows up. In it, Fox explores ten archetypes, or metaphors, that he believes speak to a revival of the healthy masculine, "indeed, the Sacred Masculine." "The authors of the classic work Green man point out that for Jung, 'an archetype will appear in new form to redress imbalances in society at a particular time when it is needed. According to this theory, therefore, the Green Man is rising up into our present awareness in order to counterbalance a lack in our attitude to Nature.'" Each of the ten archetypes in Fox's book is arising for the same reasons - to redress imbalances in our culture and in our very souls. For the latter flows from the former. It's not that the former archetypes - especially the King and the Warrior - are no longer applicable, but that they, too, are evolving as we evolve. In my workshop, The integral Warrior: Embodying the New Masculine, we're going to be "killing off" the patriarchal properties of these former archetypes so the new archetypes can arise and take their place in a more evolved consciousness. For instance, the Green Man has a fierceness and a determination that parallels the Warrior, and suddenly the Warrior becomes the Spiritual Warrior that stands alongside the Green Man. Without saying so, it appears to me that the King archetype, a model of patriarchy, however soft and benevolent, is replaced by the Blue Man, or Father Sky, who models compassion and creativity, "cunning as snakes and wise as doves." "The green man demands that men stand up. That men become men. Men have been stuck in a daze brought on by modern philosophy, consumerism, and a pseudo-masculine media-promoted identity. The green man calls us to stand for the love of the Earth and the health of future generations. Stand for the trees and the animals that are being destroyed and with them the sustainability of our own species. Stand for community and compassion rather than individual power and domination. Stand for the children and generations to come." Joseph Gelfer, in his book "Numen, Oldmen: Contemporary Masculine Spiritualities and the Problem of Patriarchy," is absolutely correct in his assessment of patriarchal stances in the evangelical, mythopoetical, and even the Integral approach to men's spirituality. Fox's book helps the neo-men's movement (my term) take a fresh look at archetypes without the hard and soft patriarchies of the earlier movement. For me, this is a major component of the New Masculine. This is where I want to go, and I'm going to take as many men with me as I can! [...]

A well-written, important book from a heavily Christian orientation, i.e., Western. As a practitioner of Tibetan Buddhism, I would love to have read more integration of these much-needed ideas from an Eastern perspective.

As an ordained minister (UCC)who has been immersed in the struggle to affirm inclusive language and feminine spirituality throughout my career, I am thrilled that Matthew Fox has undertaken the challenge to help men reclaim their spirituality. Masculine spirituality and feminine spirituality are in no way competitive or domineering (contrary to the great western rift) but are totally complimentary. I believe that is has been necessary for feminine spirituality to re-emerge first, so that men could be liberated to explore and reclaim their own spirituality, acknowledging that feminine and masculine spirituality work together to give birth to each other in one truly human spirituality. Finally...this journey has begun. Not necessarily an easy read, I sipped it, took little bites, digested them and went to the next chapter. It is a book that will be re-read many times.

I have numerous shelves full of books written specifically for women. These resources encourage women to let go of unhealthy societal expectations, learn to love themselves, and to embrace their inner goddess. What I realized as I began reading The Hidden Spirituality of Men is that I don't have any books written for men or about the masculine parts of us all. What about my husband, my son, and my grandson? Doesn't the world give them unrealistic messages that "real men" don't show their emotions, that "real men" are supposed to be dominant at all times, and that "real men" are defined by what they drink or what sports they like to watch? Don't they also need to look within to find and accept the real them? The Hidden Spirituality of Men opened my eyes. Caught in my own struggles, I hadn't really considered the male perspective. I didn't think about the depth that is hidden or why men believe that they need to do so. I hadn't realized that just as the roles of women have been distorted so have those of men.

It's hard to know where to start with Matthew Fox's prolific body of work, now logging in at more than two dozen books and continuing to stack up. There's no question that his pivotal book remains "Original Blessing: A Primer in Creation Spirituality Presented in Four Paths, Twenty-Six Themes, and Two Questions," a 1983 landmark so important that a circle of Fox's friends and supporters gathered in the summer of 2008 to celebrate its 25th anniversary. Then, I still recall the debut of "The Coming of the Cosmic Christ" five years after "Blessing." I also like, "Creativity," written just a few years ago. The result of such an outpouring of prose is that, in recent years, Fox has been able to zero into specific subjects based on his remarkable journeys through this age of turbulent spiritual reformation. Standing at one of the centers of change himself, he's accumulated a wealth of connections with religious traditions and fresh ideas for weaving those threads together. His work now is converging with other global centers of change, like the neo-Celtic movement. Read Philip Newell's "Christ of the Celts: The Healing of Creation" along with a Fox book and you'll see these streams coming together. That's important background in deciding whether to buy this new book on what appears to be a very specific theme. Think of this as a sort of spiritual workbook for men. No, there's no fill-in-the-blanks section here. It's not a journal. But Fox has divided the first part of his book into 10 spiritual archetypes that men can explore in trying to make sense of their own inner journeys. As I began reading the book, I started shaking my head at the limitations of this archetype or that one. Then, I began to see that Fox is taking us on a tour of these various archetypes, so that he can urge readers to sit down and begin weaving their own tapestries out of these powerful metaphors. He's interested not in specific archetypes, but in the convergence of all of them. If you want a book, let's say, on the complex expressions of "the green man," which is the vivid cover image of Fox's book, then this book alone isn't the answer. Fox gives us a great overview of the archetype, but he's quickly moving on to sketch another, then another. There's "the blue man" here, too, and there's the "warrior," but a warrior image explained in cross-cultural terms so that we can see that this really is the archetype of spiritual struggle that Muslims call the interior jihad. Toward the end, Fox writes, "the 10 archetypes in this book are metaphors. They are useful ways to embody and conceptualize ideas or ways of being. And they are meant to be playful." To help readers start this work of weaving, then, a lengthy appendix to the book lists scores of questions to go step by step, exploring the strength of each image. In fact, turning back to the cover, you'll notice that his green man isn't entirely green. There are blue ridges emerging across this figure's brow. Sound intriguing?